“Syme was not only dead, he was abolished, an unperson.”

Chart of the day

From Steve Benen, this is a plot of job losses per month since the recession began:

They’re all negative, of course, but it really does look like the worst is over. The blip on the far right is for this month, -11,000, the news for which was released today. It’s better than most were anticipating. And while it’s worth noting that initial job estimates are subsequently subject to change, even if it’s off by a large percentage, the trend still holds. And as an aside coming from a math geek, it’s interesting to me that progress is measured not in gaining jobs, since that hasn’t happened yet, but in slowing the rate at which we’re losing jobs. In other words, we’re celebrating first and second derivatives. I guess you find good news where you can.